20th Anniversary Quilt Retreat!

I attended the Jane Stickle quilt retreat the weekend before Thanksgiving. This retreat was a celebration of 20 years of continuous retreats. The very first retreat was held in November 1998. I didn't start attending the retreats until November 2007 and haven't missed since.

We had two show & tells this retreat. On Thursday evening we had a special Dear Jane show & tell. Anything item that was made with Jane blocks  or special challenges from the last 20 years were eligible to be shown and there was a lot to show. Also . . . there were 9 new Dear Jane quilt finishes. 

Last summer, a large online group of retreat attendees started piecing Jane, completing two blocks a week. They will be piecing awhile but their quilts are in progress. The Dear Jane quilt is still alive and happening in our group.

Rosemary always does such a wonderful job of taking pictures at show & tell. I'm going to link to her blog and let you watch from the smile box she made. Rosemary's smilebox, November 2018 retreat. Have your coffee ready to sip while you watch, there are 400 pictures!

Of course I showed my Dear Jane which I hand quilted and finished in 2016. 

What else did I do at the retreat besides party?

I pieced a Boston Commons for me. She'll hang in the closet for awhile until I decide how I want her quilted.

The yellow fabric was left from my Nearly Insane quilt. It is nearly impossible to get a good picture, it always show lighter than it really is.  I took a close up of a corner and the yellow does look better, at least I thought it did, maybe it doesn't. Oh well.

I took one picture of the flimsy with the light on and the second one the overhead light is off and the blinds pulled shut. It didn't seem to help at all.

My Boston Commons is an old pattern, designed back in the 80's and this is the only pattern I've ever used for this design. I don't know if this method is used in other Boston Commons patterns or not.

First you piece the center and add the first border. 

Then you piece the corner sections then attach them which looks rather weird.

Finally you piece the top, bottom and side sections and attach them. After that it's the outside border and it's a flimsy ready to be quilted.

The pattern suggests you use the same fabric as the inside border for the outside. I don't really like light borders for bed quilts that are going to be used. I love deep dark blue so that is what I used. 

My quilt is king sized 98" by 120" and is the first flimsy to be crossed off this list for this winter's quilting season.

I also worked on Starlight Express. The center section is pieced. Currently I'm piecing 9-patch blocks to make a border around the center. Hopefully this will be a completed flimsy next week.

Linking to Sew Fresh Quilts, Needle & Thread Thursday, Finished Or Not Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, TGIFF!, Show Off Saturday